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Michael Gerard Grimm (born February 7, 1970) is the United States Representative for New York’s 11th congressional district, serving since 2011. The district, numbered as the 13th District during his first term, consists of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. He is a member of the Republican Party. He is a former FBI agent, businessman, an attorney, and U.S. Marine, having served in the Persian Gulf War.

So he’s a former cop and a former soldier, and from New York. Such folk talk like this sometimes, I guess. But it must have been scary for the reporter, being right next to the balcony and all.

MG: Overwhelmingly, yes. A lot of my volunteers have come from the Staten Island Tea Party. It’s an honor to have them. Some of the media wants to demonize them as fringe right-wing maniacs, and I have not seen that on Staten Island or in Brooklyn. I have seen good hardworking people that are frustrated and angry with the direction of the country and they’re standing up to voice their opinion and get involved.

From Wikipedia on the fund-raising controversy that prompted the flight off the balcony suggestion:

Fundraising controversy
Based on confidential interviews with followers of Orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, a January 2012 article in the New York Times reported that Candidate Grimm engaged in “questionable fundraising” practices during his 2010 campaign. These practices allegedly included repeatedly soliciting one follower who had already donated $10,000 to Grimm’s campaign for another $10,000, accepting cash donations exceeding $100, explaining a scheme to evade donation limits to another follower, and accepting a $25,000 donation for which the funds originated from a single person and passed through Rabbi Pinto’s former aide, Ofer Biton.[39]

In August 2012, the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York acknowledged that it was investigating Grimm’s 2010 campaign.[40] In November 2012, the House Ethics Committee decided to inquire into the campaign but agreed to “defer consideration” of it at the Department of Justice’s request.[41]

In January 2014, the FBI arrested Diana Durand, a Houston-based fundraiser for Grimm, on charges that she had illegally donated more than $10,000 to Grimm’s 2010 campaign. Durand allegedly gave the campaign $4,800, the legal limit, but then used straw donors to donate more than $10,000 illegally. The FBI also charged Durand with lying to Federal agents about the matter. Grimm denied any wrongdoing.[42]

On January 28, 2014, NY1 political reporter Michael Scotto tried to ask Grimm a question about the investigation while conducting an interview about the 2014 State of the Union Address. Grimm refused to answer and initially walked away. However, while Scotto was tossing back to the studio, Grimm abruptly collared Scotto and told him, “Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I’ll throw you off this fucking balcony.” When Scotto protested that it was a “valid question,” Grimm replied, “No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough. I’ll break you in half. Like a boy.” Grimm later issued a statement defending his behavior, saying that he was annoyed by what he called a “disrespectful cheap shot” from Scotto. “I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect,” Grimm said, “especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor.”

According to a bombshell report from the New York Times, Congressman Michael Grimm, together with a man under FBI investigation for embezzlement, raised more than $500,000 dollars in tainted campaign cash by taking contributions in excess of federal limits, taking contributions from foreign nationals, setting up “straw donors,” and personally receiving envelopes filled with cash.

All that whinging and hand wringing about slavery, taking the land from the Indians, and all that stuff is very annoying, especially when the assertion is made that our founding fathers had anything do to with all that. Even though they did. But still, it is very annoying to have the names of those who saw fit to found this nation besmirched by the so called “facts” of “history.”

And that is why the Tennessee Tea Party wants to make it illegal in the Mottoless State of Tennessee to teach the truth. Here’s the wording they propose:

“No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

One year ago today, nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green was shot to death by Tuscon resident Jared Lee Loughner, using a 9 mm Glock automatic pistol with a high capacity ammunition clip. Seventeen other people were shot in that incident, a total of six of whom died. One of the injured was Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords, whom had already been “targeted” for removal by radical elements of the Republican Party. It is not clear that Loughner was acting as an agent of these radical elements, but it was widely thought at the time that his decision to attempt an assassination of the congresswoman was spurred on by the hateful and violent rhetoric, often laced with references to firearms, of the Tea Party Movement.

Amy Koch apologized late this afternoon for “engaging in a relationship with a Senate staffer,” though she did not name the individual.

Koch declared in an official statement that she’s “made some mistakes and errors in judgment” and has “deep regret.” She apologized to constituents, the Republican party, fellow legislators, and her family.

“The events of recent days have been very difficult for me and those close to me,” Koch said.

Although Koch has not named the other person whom she was boinking, it is rumored that it was/is Michael Brodcorb.

Now, who really cares? This is between Amy her boyfriend, her husband, and anyone else who may or may not be involved/uninvolved. But, of course, we tend to make a big deal out of it when the person doing the extra-marital affairing is a Family Values Teabagging Republican Shit, as is the case here.

But really, is it Amy’s fault that her marriage is ruined? After all, marriage in general has been ruined by the gay people, right? Gay people have, generally speaking, ruined everything, including marriage, and other stuff too. So, of course Amy was unable to maintain her Family Values Marriage under those circumstances.

The gay and lesbian community of Minnesota has issued a letter of apology to recently resigned Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch for ruining the institution of marriage and causing her to stray from her husband and engage in an “inappropriate relationship.”

“On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community’s successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage,” reads the letter from John Medeiros. “We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry.”

Both Koch and her alleged boinkee Brodkorb campainged hard to get a constitutoinal emendment on the ballot so that Minnesota Voters can Trample Out the Gay by making it unconstitutional to even change the law to allow those gay people to marry. But, apparently, they did not campaign hard enough, too little too late, leaving the barn door open after the horse has flown the coop. And now, sadly, they had to pay. By fucking. And getting caught doing so.

Several NASCAR fans booed two women who were announcing the start of a race (with the famous words “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!!”). The women were part of the “Joining Forces” initiative, which is in support of military families. The women stood next to retired Army Sgt. Andrew Barry, who was wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ninety percent of Fox News viewers believe that all of the founding fathers were born in the very country they founded, as post-embryos. Ninety four percent believe that Reagan lowered the National Debt and nearly 100% who receive Medicare oppose “socialized medicine.”

But you knew that. What you didn’t know and never suspected is that 15% of Fox News Viewers believe that George Washington defeated King George of England in a duel. Also, 70 percent believe that President Obama was born in Keny, and 38% believe that he was born in Indonesia, which means that -8% believe that he was born in the US.

And then, then it says “100% of Fox News viewers said they wouldnâ€™t care if the entire country fell apart as long as Barack Obama isnâ€™t elected to a second term.”

Ron Paul, a first class dick, was nailed pretty badly by this question. But not as badly as the Teabaggers in the audience who cheered the idea of leaving an uninsured person who got a terrible disease to die becuase they made a mistake in not getting proper insurance coverage.

Dan Satterfield further analyzes the recent Yale survey which shows a) if you remove Teabaggers form the Republican Party you get a more sensible group of Republicans and b) if you look just at the teabaggers you get, well, something rather scary.

Read about it here. The bottom line is this: When asked, in reference to evaluating relevant policy and science and stuff, if you “need any more information” to make an informed choice, the teabaggers say “no” in the majority, while other groups, even Republicans, are much more likely to desire to know more.

In a very recent poll related to science, climate, and technology, “… all four political groups, which broke down in the poll as 39% Democrats, 25% Independents, 24% traditional Republicans, and 12% Teaparty Republicans, favored more research into renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power and providing tax rebates for people who purchase energy efficient vehicles or solar panels.” The most interesting thing about this poll is that the Tea Party is the most anti science group, and the formation of this group has actually increased the respect for science found among the remaining Republicans. Tea Party members were the most wrong on science, AND the most convinced that they were right. And there’s more, much more. Go here and read about all of it: Teaparty at odds with reality and electorate on climate change